Ring post assembly



NOV. 21, 1967 j SHElMAN 3,353,205

RING POST AS SEMBLY Filed April 1, 1966 5 w /8 /8 30 Z64. F /8 FIG 4 IN VENTOR.

Jae. /u 5 37 5 44 AA! United States Patent Ofihce 3,353,2ll Patented Nov. 21, 1967 3,353,205 RING POST ASSEMBLY Julius Sheiman, North Woodmere, N.Y., assignor to Crest Lock Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York I Filed Apr. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 539,399 11 Claims. (Cl. 16-125) This invention relates to carrying handle assemblies, and, more particularly, to a new and improved ring post assembly for securing an end of an elongated handle to an article to be carried, such, for example, as a piece of luggage, a portable television receiver, radio, a portable typewriter, a sample case or a carrying case for machinery.

Ring post assemblies are characterized by the provision of rings or loops to which the ends of an elongated handle are adapted to be secured, the rings being rotatably mounted by posts to turn about parallel axes that are parallel to the top of the article to be carried. The handle attached by such assemblies normally lies flat against the article when not in use, and it is pulled away from the top of the article to be carried, i.e. the rings are swung up, when the handle is grasped and the article lifted.

In a popular conventional ring post assembly, a metal post is secured to the article to be carried by a stem projecting downwardly from the post through an opening in the top portion of the article to be carried. The bottom of the stem is staked against the undersurface of the portion of the article to which the handle is secured. A gapped metal ring is disposed at each end of the handle, and each ring is loosely pivoted in its associated post between the article and the post with the ends of the ring adjacent the gap located in downwardly open transverse channels provided in the post and spaced from the stem thereof. The foregoing assembly has several drawbacks. The ring tends to rattle in the channels, and the metal to metal contact between the ring and said channels creates annoying noise. This occurs when the handle is not in use, i.e., the article is not being carried, and is disposed, for example, at rest on the floor in an elevator or train or bus. Even slight vibration of the floor on which the article rests in sufiicient to cause the metallic rattle. Still further, with articles such as typewriters, television sets and radios, the sound can be caused by vibration of the article during use thereof, i.e., typing on the typewriter and reception of sound on the television set or radio.

In addition to the annoying noises generated by conventional ring post assemblies as described above, the play in the assemblies caused by the looseness of the rings in the post channels causes the articles being carried to wobble and sway or shift under the users hand, and this creates a feeling of instability and insecurity on the part of the person carrying the article since it makes it seem as if the handle is about to come off the article.

Still further, the looseness of the ring with respect to the post creates manufacturing problems. For example, each ring post assembly includes two separate parts (the ring and post) which will not stay together when assembled until after the post has been secured to the top of the article to be carried. As a result, the parts of the assembly must be held together and at the same time positioned properly as a unit at the top of the article to be carried and held in unitary condition and in proper position during the staking operation. When it is recognized that each handle has a ring post assembly at each end thereof, it is obvious that a certain amount of juggling is necessary to hold the entire handle assembly in place and in assembled condition during staking, and this can cause danger to the operator performing the staking operation. Moreover, if the ring post assembly is not held properly and is allowed to come apart, not only the two parts making up the assembly will become disassembled, but the ring may also come out of the handle end. Generally, the looseness of conventional ring post assemblies has made manufacture thereof time-consuming and awkward.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a ring post assembly having none of the above described drawbacks.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described wherein a gapped ring is firmly but rotatably secured to the post whereby rattling of the assembly when the handle is not in use is prevented and whereby wobbling of an article being carried by the handle is also prevented.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which comprises few and simple parts, is rugged and durable and is attractive and neat in appearance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which is suitable for mass production techniques and which can be easily and simply fabricated without requiring particular skills on the part of the manufacturing personnel.

Gther objects of the invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the ring post assembly hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a ring post assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partially fragmentary bottom view of an unmounted assembly;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a handle mounted on an article by a pair of ring post assemblies embodying the instant invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 44 of FIG. 3, but with the handle flat; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of FIG. 4 but with the handle raised.

Generally, the objects of the present invention are achieved by providing an assembly wherein a gapped ring is rotatably force-fitted on the sides of a stem and is inhibited from appreciable movement longitudinally and transversely of the stem. More specifically, a gap between facing ends of two arms of the ring is of such width that said ends are receivable in a force-fit on the sides of the stem in diametrically opposed position. Said arms extend through channels provided in the post so as to limit linear movement of the arms longitudinally and transversely with respect to the stem and thereby prevent movement of the arms off the stem.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a ring post assembly embodying the present invention. Said assembly includes a U-shaped ring 12 and a post 14. The ring is fabricated from a stiff resilient material such as cold rolled steel and includes a central reach 16 integral at the ends thereof with perpendicular side reaches 18. The side reaches are substantially parallel to one another and terminate in integral inturned perpendicular aligned arms 20 disposed remotely from the central reach and substantially parallel thereto. The reaches and the arms lie in substantially the same plane. The facing end surfaces 22 of the arms are spaced from one another whereby to provide a gap. Said surfaces 22 are substantially flat for a reason to be explained hereinafter, and are perpendicular to the length of the arms.

The post 14 which conveniently may be die cast from a conventional zinc die casting alloy includes a hollow rectangular cap 24 from the central undersurface of which an integral hollow, downwardly opening, circular, elongated stem 26 projects downwardly (as viewed in FIG. 1) past a dependingskirt 28 constituting the side wall of the cap. A pair of diametrically disposed downwardly opening channels 30 is formed in said skirt, said channels being centered about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal-axis of the stem. The purpose of the channels will become apparent hereinafter. Strengthening flanges 32 are provided on the undersurface of the cap extending radially. from the stem to the skirt. The flanges do not extend below the skirt. The cap and ring are best seen in FIG. 1.

The upper section 26a of the stem is disposed entirely within the cap, i.e., it does not extend below the skirt. The outer diameter A (see FIG. 2) of said section is slightly larger than the outerdiameter B ofthe lower section 26b of'the stem which extends-below the skirt (all as viewed in FIG. 2).

Pursuant to the present invention, the facing end surfaces 22 of the arms 20 of the ring are located a distance C from oneanother slightly less than the outer diameter A of the section 260 of the stem, the distance being such that the arms 20'when mounted on the stem are a forcefit thereon.

A typical difference between the dimensions A and C with the mentioned materials and a ring one inch wide, one and one-eighth inches long andone-eighth inch thick with a gap of about one-quarter inch, and with side reaches three-sixteenths inch wide, is on. the order of five onethousandths of an inch. The outer diameter B 'of the section 26b is less than diameter A of the section 26a by an amount not exceeding five one-thousandths of an inch so that the breadth C of the gap between the facing end surfaces of the arms is also less than the outer diameter B of the section 26b but by a smaller amount than the difference between said breadth and the outerv diameter A of section 26a. The following dimensions are given as exemplificative: for. the.gap between the facingend surfaces of .the arms0.250 inch; for the outer diameter of the upper stem section 26a-0.256 inch; and for the. outer diameter of, the stem section 2611-0252. inch. The foregoing dimensional relationships are illustrated in FIG. 2,..

although not to scale.

The ring is assembled to.the stem by forcing the lower section 26b.of the stem sideways between thefacing surfaces 22'whereby the roundedsurfaceof thev stem spreads the arms apart. Th'enthe .arms are slidtoward and onto the upper section 26a of the stem to. spread the arms still further apart. The type of material-for the ring and the relative sizes of thegapand the diameters of the stem are selected so that when. thekarms. are force-fitted onto the. section 2612 of the stenr'having the larger outer diameter A,"the"ring material Willnot be stressed beyond the elastic limit of the,metal, i.e., the.cold'rolled steel. 'Once the ring has'been force-fitted: onto the stem,.the--return bias of "the arms to their originalpositions causesthem to tightly but 'rotatably grip" the stem.

Each .end surface 22.0f the ringabuts an associated opposed .surfaceof the stem, said stem surfaces being dia-..

metrically opposed to'oneanother. Asa result, two di-j ametrically' opposed spaced pairsof facing .abutting. surfaces" are; provided. 7

It -willbenoted that in each pair of abuttingsurfaces in the embodiment of. the invention described herein and shown in the .drawings, theend surface.22 ofthe ring is flat and normal to the axis of rotation of the, ringrelative to the .post stem. Pursuant to the invention, atleast one surface of .each pair -ofabuttingsurfaces should be flat and normal to the' axis of rotation of the ring about the'stem, but thisneed not be an end surface 22 as.in the embodiment shown anddescribed. For example, they abutting surfaces of the stem could be flat and normal to said axis of rotation while the end surfaces of the arms could be convex, or one facing end surface 22 could be flat and normal to said axis of rotation and its associated surface on the stern rounded while .theother surface 22 could be rounded and its associated surface of the: stem flat and normal to said axis of rotation. Still-further, both sur-' facesof each pair-could be flat and normal to said axis of rotation. The reason why at least one surfaceofxeach abutting pair of surfaces. must be. flat-isthat; otherwise the ring tends to slip-off the stem too easily; then it would be difiicult to position the ring arms on the stem, and the channels limiting longitudinal and transverse movement of the ring with respect to the stem would have to be very snug on the arms. A snug fit between the channels and the arms is particularly undesirable since this not J'- only makes manufacture difficult due to the necessarily close tolerances but also may impede smooth, snug rotation of the ringon. the stem.

The axis of rotation of .the ring on the stem is perpena V dicular to and intersects the longitudinal axis of the stem.

The arms extend through .the channels 30 formed in the skirt, which, as already mentioned, are centered about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the stem, said perpendicular axis being that about which the ring is rotatable. The channels serve two purposes. One. is to. accommodate the arms above the bottom edge at the skirt (as viewed in FIG. 1). This permits the arms. tobe disposed in line with or above the bottom edge of the skirt so that said arms do not prevent the cap from lying flat on the top surface of. the article to which the post is secured.

Pursuant to the invention, the channels also serve to limit linear upward (longitudinal) and lateral (transverse) movement of the arms with respect to the stem. The. channels are of such dimension that while the arms. can

rotate round aout the axis of the arms, they are pre. vented from moving laterally to such an extent that they could come otf the stem. This is necessary since the rings are pulled on during use of the handle. The. provision of at least one fiat, normal surfacein each. associated. pair of facing abutting surfaces renders it unnecessaryv that the channels fit the arms to a close tolerance. to ,prevent the arms from coming ,ofl? the.stem..Th.e lateral and. longitudinal limitation of movement. also. .prevents. the. ring from shifting appreciably under load and thereby inhibits wobbling, swaying or shifting oftheringon the. post.

Downward movement of thearms off thestem .is prevented by abutment of the. armsagainst .the article/to which the cap is secured, as is clearly shown in,FIG. 3. Prior to force-fitting of .the ring .to the .post. stem, the

so that its .centraLreach 16 is located in.the... 0pening;34

of the handle. 'Eachring is capable OfpiYOting Le rotatr ing withrespectto the handlerThe foregoing.. canrbest,.

be seen in FIG. 3.

secured. .to. a surface, preferably the top-surfaceof the article to be carried by securing the caps thereto. This may be accomplished in. a conventional manner which is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The top surface of the articleto which the ringpost assembly is to-be secured is designated in the drawings by the numeral 38.- A metal escutcheon plate 40 is preferably interposed between said surface and thelowersurface of the skirt 28."Regi s tered openings are provided in the top surface 38 and escutcheon plate corresponding to the positions of the stems of the ring post assemblies. Said stems are inserted downwardly into the openings until the skirts abut the escutcheon plate. The stems are of sufiicient length to project a short distance beneath the lower surface of the top of the article when the skirts and escutcheon plates are in abutment with one another. The lower edge 42 of each stem is then staked over against said lower surface. This may be accomplished by a conventional press including a ram and anvil wherein the bottom end of the stem is placed over the anvil and the ram strikes the cap at the top thereof causing the staking to take place.

The staking operation is greatly simplified when the ring post assemblies embodying the instant invention are employed. One reason for this is that the rings need not be held during staking because the force-fitting of the rings on the stems causes them to substantially retain positions in which they are placed.

To lessen the effort required to force-fit a ring on the upper portion of a stern and to reduce the frictional force opposing rotation of the ring in its force-fitted turning mounting on the stem, and to impart an attractive appearance to the ring and post, both these members are bright plated with a tough durable metal such as nickel or chrome.

It thus will be seen that there is provided a ring post assembly which achieves the several objects of this invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the present invention, there is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination with an article having a surface, a ring post assembly for securing an elongated handle having an opening at an end thereof to said surface, said assembly comprising a gapped ring and a post, said ring being made of stiff resilient material and having a reach adapted to be rotatably received in the opening of the handle, a pair of arms remote from and integral with said reach, said arms being in line with and extending toward one another, a surface on the free end of one arm spaced from and directly facing a surface on the free end of the other arm, said post including an elongated stem adapted to be attached to a top surface of an article, said stem having a pair of oppositely outwardly facing aligned surfaces, said stem being force-fitted between the aforesaid facing surfaces of the arms with one said surface of the stem facing and abutting said surface of one arm whereby a first pair of facing abutting surfaces is provided, and the other said surface of the stem facing and abutting said surface of the other arm whereby a second pair of abutting facing surfaces is provided, the distance between the facing surfaces of the arms prior to the force-fitting of the stem therebetween being less than the distance between the oppositely facing surfaces of the stem, the difference between the aforesaid distances causing the ring on force-fitting of the stem between the arms to be stressed below the elastic limit of the ring material, the free ends of the ring being rotatable on the stem at the force-fitted abutting pairs of surfaces about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the stem, and means for limiting linear movement of the arms longitudinally and transversely of the stem after the post has been secured to the top of an article whereby to maintain the arms in force-fitted engagement with the stem.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one surface of each pair of facing abutting surfaces is flat and is normal to the axis of rotation of the ring.

3. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein both surfaces of the arms are flat and normal to the axis of rotation of the ring.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein the stem is circular.

5. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the difference between the distances is on the order of five one-thousandths of an inch.

6. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the post includes a cap and the cap includes a pair of oppositely disposed channels passing the arms of the ring, said channels constituting the means for limiting linear longitudinal and transverse movement of the arms with respect to the post.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the post comprises a cap having a peripheral downwardly extending skirt, wherein the stem projects downwardly at a right angle to the cap and wherein said skirt includes a pair of oppositely disposed channels passing the arms of the ring and which constitute the means for limiting longitudinal and transverse movement of the arms with respect to the post.

8. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein the stem is circular and includes a first section located within the skirt and a second section integral with the first section, said second section extending below the skirt and having a slightly lesser diameter than the first section.

9. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein an esoutcheon plate is provided between the article and the post.

10. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the pairs of facing abutting surfaces of the ring are plated with a tough durable metal.

11. A ring post assembly for securing an elongated handle to an article having a surface, said handle having an opening at one end thereof and said assembly comprising a gapped ring and a post, said ring being made of stiff resilient material and having a reach adapted to be rotatably received in the opening of the handle, a pair of arms remote from and integral with said reach, said arms being in line with and extending toward one another, a surface on the free end of one arm spaced from and directly facing a surface on the free end of the other arm, said post including an elongated stem adapted to be attached to a top surface of an article, said stem having a pair of oppositely outwardly facing aligned surfaces, said stem being force-fitted between the aforesaid facing surfaces of the arms with one said surface of the stem facing and abutting said surface of one arm whereby a first pair of facing abutting surfaces is provided, and the other said surface of the stern facing and abutting said surface of the other arm whereby a second pair of abutting facing surfaces is provided, the distance between the facing surfaces of the arms prior to the force-fitting of the stem therebetween being less than the distance between the oppositely facing surfaces of the stem, the difference between the aforesaid distances causing the ring on force-fitting of the stem between the arms to be stressed below the elastic limit of the ring material, the free ends of the ring being rotatable on the stem at the force-fitted abutting pairs of surfaces about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the stem, and means for limiting linear movement of the arms longitudinally and transversely of the stem after the post has been secured to the top of an article whereby to maintain the arms in force-fitted engagement with the stern.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,936,736 5/1960 Werstein 16-126 3,158,284 11/1964 Henchert et al l6126 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN ARTICLE HAVING A SURFACE, A RING POST ASSEMBLY FOR SECURING AN ELONGATED HANDLE HAVING AN OPENING AT AN END THEREOF TO SAID SURFACE, SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A GAPPED RING AND A POST, SAID RING BEING MADE OF STIFF RESILIENT MATERIAL AND HAVING A REACH ADAPTED TO BE ROTATABLY RECEIVED IN THE OPENING OF THE HANDLE, A PAIR OF ARMS REMOTE FROM AND INTEGRAL WITH SAID REACH, SAID ARMS BEING IN LINE WITH AND EXTENDING TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, A SURFACE ON THE FREE END OF ONE ARM SPACED FROM AND DIRECTLY FACING A SURFACE ON THE FREE END OF THE OTHER ARM, SAID POST INCLUDING AN ELONGATED STEM ADAPTED TO BE ATTACHED TO A TOP SURFACE OF AN ARTICLE, SAID STEM HAVING A PAIR OF OPPOSITELY OUTWARDLY FACING ALIGNED SURFACES, SAID STEM BEING FORCE-FITTED BETWEEN THE AFORESAID FACING SURFACES OF THE ARMS WITH ONE SAID SURFACE OF THE STEM FACING AND ABUTTING SAID SURFACE OF ONE ARM WHEREBY A FIRST PAIR OF FACING ABUTTING SURFACES IS PROVIDED, AND THE OTHER SAID SURFACE OF THE STEM FACING AND ABUTTING SAID SURFACE OF THE OTHER ARM WHEREBY A SECOND PAIR OF ABUTTING FACING SURFACES IS PROVIDED, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE FACING SURFACES OF THE ARM PRIOR TO THE FORCE-FITTING OF THE STEM THEREBETWEEN BEING LESS THAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE OPPOSITELY FACING SURFACES OF THE STEM, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE AFORESAID DISTANCES CAUSING THE RING ON FORCE-FITTING OF THE STEM BETWEEN THE ARMS TO BE STRESSED BELOW THE ELASTIC LIMIT OF THE RING MATERIAL, THE FREE ENDS OF THE RING BEING ROTATABLE ON THE STEM AT THE FORCE-FITTED ABUTTING PAIRS OF SURFACES ABOUT AN AXIS PERPENDICULAR TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE STEM, AND MEANS FOR LIMITING LINEAR MOVEMENT OF THE ARMS LONGITUDINALLY AND TRANSVERSELY OF THE STEM AFTER THE POST HAS BEEN SECURED TO THE TOP OF AN ARTICLE WHEREBY TO MAINTAIN THE ARMS IN FORCE-FITTED ENGAGEMENT WITH THE STEM. 